


When the Helicarriers Rose

by AngeNoir



Series: 2018 Stony Bingo Card [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 2018 Stony MCU Bingo, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Cap_Ironman Tiny Reverse Bang, HYDRA wins, Hydra (Marvel), M/M, On the Run, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 16:31:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15271605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeNoir/pseuds/AngeNoir
Summary: The helicarriers lifted into the sky, and that decisive first strike devastated the world.





	When the Helicarriers Rose

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [тражен](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15049805) by [salable_mystic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salable_mystic/pseuds/salable_mystic). 



> a) I'm not sure what the pictures translated to x.x but I believe it reads "wanted: alive or dead"
> 
> b) this fills the "on the run" square of my Stony 2018 round 1 Bingo Card
> 
> and, lastly, c) I had to cut myself off because I was getting too much into exposition x.x

The posters were stark and grim. They were an artist’s rendering - not a true picture, but then again, there were enough people who had been familiar with Captain America and Iron Man that they didn’t really need a picture. Just the suggestion - hell, just the _names_ \- was enough.

_Wanted. Alive or dead._

“I look like I’m terrified in this picture,” Tony muttered, staring at the poster.

Steve didn’t even look back at Tony. “Wanda should have been back by now.”

“Why do you look commanding and I look terrified?”

“ _Tony_ ,” Steve hissed.

With a sigh, Tony pulled away from the peeling posters on the alley’s brick wall and walked over to where Steve was pressed against the corner, watching.

How it devolved to this, Tony… well, it wasn’t as if Tony didn’t know. He knew exactly how. He knew why. With the rise of Hydra inside SHIELD, tearing open the organization and launching those helicarriers in the air… a lot of people had died in Hydra’s first strike. Tony should have been one of them, quite honestly - it had been sheer luck that JARVIS had identified the personnel missile heading towards the tower (a design he remembered perfecting, back when he was in MIT for his father and the company, a design he had thought he had eliminated and destroyed thoroughly, and he hated that it always seemed to be _his_ failures, _his_ mistakes returning to destroy him).

The Avengers had gone into hiding. Steve insisted that Hydra’s fist, the Winter Soldier, wasn’t going to continue supporting Hydra, but that didn’t matter when they had people everywhere, complete control over many countries directly, indirect control over pretty much every other country…

It had not been hard for Tony to quickly and quietly ghost Pepper and Happy, putting them somewhere safe. He’d been hunted, and he’d quickly shut down all his factories - nearly bankrupting himself with generous severance packages to the workers in the factories that could quickly be repurposed into making Stark weaponry again, fending off attacks and “attempts to arrest Iron Man” as he hastily restructured his companies to keep them safe and unable to do anything more than continuing to churn out green energy generators and improved cell phones. Steve had caught up to him - being chased by his own hunters - and together they had escaped out of the country.

Rhodey, Sam Wilson (someone Steve knew), _Fury_ (who was apparently still alive), Natasha, Clint, and Wanda had all gotten out of the country. They had disappeared into various safe places, but disappearing wouldn’t solve the problem. No, they needed to get those helicarriers out of the sky, and that would require a hell of a lot more firepower than anyone had at the moment.

So they were here, in the Ukraine, where they had met up with Wanda, who said she knew where Fury was. She had asked them to stay here, a decent distance from the safehouse so she wouldn’t be tracked leading Fury back to it, but of the Avengers, Hydra was most focused on identifying and capturing Steve and Tony.

“She should be back by now,” Steve said, voice tense.

Tony had one of his earlier models, and not a lot of materials available to him for upgrades, but he was Tony-fucking-Stark still, and so he pulled his mind out of the darker thoughts that had been circling him and tried to focus on Steve’s growing tension. Putting a hand on Steve’s back, rubbing lightly, he murmured, “Then let’s head back - carefully. If it’s Fury, he should have some level of old spy technique we can use to let him know what happened, that we fell back.”

Steve’s jaw clenched. Tony knew Steve didn’t handle waiting very well - for all that, in their first meeting, it had been Tony who had thrown himself into the fray without a plan, Steve actually dealt a lot better with action than strategizing and waiting for the action to happen.

Finally, Steve gave a tight nod and turned to stalk past the posters. Tony had enough supplies back at the safehouse they were at that he could puzzle out an old-time broadcast that Fury would catch. They’d sit there, Tony would distract Steve as best he could - which wasn’t that hard, nowadays, but he always felt vaguely bad doing so - and then they’d try again tomorrow to meet up.

If they had Thor, or Banner… but how do you attack an enemy as widespread as the UN, as deeply rooted in as executive institutions, as protected as the constitutions of countries?

Tony followed behind Steve, and if he needed to be strong for Steve for now, there was always the dark of the night, his insomnia, and his nightmares where he could break down.


End file.
